Bizarre Is Better

BroBots is a delightful little game I ran into at GDEX 2018. When I first played it, I did horrible because I didn’t realize what was going on. There were two robots – a big one and little one – and swarms of enemies. It looks like a twin-stick shooter – a genre of games loosely based on Robotron and others like it.

So What IS BroBots?

The developer happened to be there and pointed out what I was missing. One player is the main character, the other player is the weapon! Player one is a big, slow robot named “Big Bro” and he just wanders around collecting power ups and earning points. The other “Lil Bro” is a super-fast smaller robot who is invincible and damages any enemies he touches. It’s the very essence of couch co-operative play.

What’s Good About It?

The music is upbeat, the enemies are varied, and there are things enemies drop that you can collect to build up special powers for both robots. Big Bro can spawn a field around himself for a short period of time that slows enemies significantly, while Lil Bro can activate a laser that bridges between Big Bro and Lil Bro that does huge amounts of damage to any enemies it touches.

What’s Bad About It?

The only downside to this game – anyone wanting a wide variety of levels and game modes will be sadly disappointed. It’s one scene with constant streams of enemies coming at you until you die and the only object is to rack up the highest score possible. I am fine with this because it’s a fun little game you can pick up and play with someone for a few rounds and enjoy it immensely. And it’s going for $2 USD on Itch.io or more if you feel like it’s worth paying the extra.

What’s My Verdict?

I would love to see more local cooperative multiplayer games like this. I also do enjoy the fact that with the 40+ hour mega-blockbuster suck up all your free time games out here, games like BroBots are still being made. These indies are made with tons of passion by developers who are bringing back the fun of local multiplayer games. Find a friend, grab a couple controllers, and enjoy!

I am not sure I’ve got time to do post every day, but I will write for my blog every day. There are a ton of things I can write about that I will be doing.

Why am I doing this?

I love games and gaming and would love to make games. I am a programmer for my day job, but after doing it all day, I’ve had about enough programming for one day. So rather than make games I am going to share some of my favorite games with the Internet in general rather than spending all my time telling everyone I know about these wonderful gems of indie goodness.

Some teasers/spoilers:

Recently I went to the 2018 GDEX which is a weekend-long game developer expo here in Columbus, Ohio that’s been happening every fall for a few years now. It’s grown to be over 100 exhibitors including some local hobbyists and small studios up to some well-known indies like Finji of Night in the Woods fame. There are a couple dozen games from this I could write about.

There are some wonderful new indie games I’ve encountered between Kickstarter and Humble Bundle. This includes Garden Paws which is a like a super-chill mashup of Stardew Valley and Minecraft with cute animals. I’ve been playing this with my kids. I have also been following Bombfest which is in the final stages of finishing up their launch.

Last but not least, there have been a handful of games I started playing this year that I have sunk some major hours into and even finished – which is increasingly rare for me. This includes Hollow Knight and Subnautica which are both amazing atmospheric games with amazing soundtracks and a heavy emphasis on exploration. But that is about all those games have in common.

The event I’d been looking forward to for weeks finally came along at the end of September 2017 – GDEX 2017. GDEX (The Game Developer Expo) is a major game developer expo in Columbus, Ohio of all places. I’m so lucky to have this event in what is pretty much my backyard. This is my third time attending this event and its fifth year running.

What makes GDEX so special? It’s mostly made up of super-passionate game developers, artists, musicians and people doing related stuff all coming together to show off the work they have poured their hearts and souls into. This year they had 100 exhibitors on the show floor.

The people exhibiting range anywhere from college kids making their first game to industry veterans going off and founding their own studios and sharing their new creations. On top of this, there are almost always sessions going on where you can hear inspiring talks and learn new things about making games. Continue reading →

I just read about a new game that I have added to my Steam wish list – Goat Simulator. It looks like a crazy, messed up game where you play as a goat and cause as much destruction as possible, as a goat. Sort of a Garry’s Mod meets Burnout Crash mode for live stock.

Element4L (pronounced “elemental”) is a great physics-based indie game that can be best described as a platformer. The deceptively simple game has one goal: get from the beginning of the level to the end. No enemies. The only thing standing in your way is the environment.

No Walk in the Park

As the Element4L trailer indicates – this is no walk in the park. The gameplay is challenging but not nearly impossible like the trend is for some recent games. It is not a “rogue-like” randomly generated game. Once you beat a level, it unlocks “race mode” which challenges you to finish the game faster than before.

What Is “Non-Traditional Movement?”

What makes this game shine is what I have seen described as “non-traditional movement.” You don’t simply move up, down, left, and right like in most games. The only way to move is switch your character from one element to another and let the element’s characteristics take over. The only controls are the arrow keys which convert you into one of four elements. Hit up – turn into an air bubble and float up, right to turn into a fireball and shoot to the right, down and you become a rock and fall, left and you become a block of ice that slides downhill. Notice one missing? LEFT. You cannot directly go left. If you need to go left, you generally need to turn into ice and slide downhill. This adds a very interesting twist on things on getting from point A to point B.

FREE DLC!!! – Race Mode

One thing that did impress me – a few months after the game was released and race mode was one of the more popular features, the developer released a set of DLC levels that consisted entirely of race mode tracks set up to see who could do three laps around the track the fastest. The new DLC is made up of a total of sixteen tracks which is a nice chunk of update.

Storyline + Soundtrack

A couple more things about the game I found interesting: they seem to have been inspired by the little bits of narrative quotes between the levels of Thomas Was Alone, because this game does something similar. Unfortunately no narrator which is one of the very slight downsides to the game.

The other is the sound track is fantastic, and included for free with the purchase of the game. Which was a pleasant surprise indeed.

Is It Worth It?

Verdict: this game is very much worth the price. Don’t been fooled by the screenshots, which make it look like a mediocre game because of the graininess, it looks fantastic when it is in motion. The grainy look gives it sort of a home video hand made feel which fits right in with the game.